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March 15

Reading 1 - Leviticus 23

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v. 2 - A 'holy convocation' was a meeting of a religious character as distinguished from congregation, which was more general, dealing with political and legal matters. Hence it is called an "holy convocation." Such convocations were the Sabbaths [v.2,3] the Passover [v.7,8, Ex.12:16, Num.28:25], Pentecost [v.21], the feast of Trumpets [v.24, Num.29:1], the feast of Weeks [Num.28:26] and the feast of Tabernacles [v.35,36] The great fast, the annual day of atonement, was "the holy convocation"[v.27, Num.29:7].
Peter Cresswell
v.10-21 - This rather puts to shame whatever effort we might make to thank God for our food. The provision God has made here for the people that they might not forget the source of their sustenance, was quite considerable, and their required response was high. We might bear this in mind when we forget to give due reverence to the Lord God as the source of our blessings.
Peter Cresswell
23:5 Passover
23:10 Firstfruits
23:11 'morrow after the Sabbath' see John 20:17 - this is the morning of the resurrection. Jesus is the 'firstfruits' - we also are to be 'a kind of firstfruits' James 1:18 this occurs at baptism, or at least it should when we die - 'are buried with him' and are 'in the likeness of his resurrection'
23:15 Pentecost Pentecost - the feast of weeks - was to kept with the 'stranger' that was with them so involves gentiles Deuteronomy 16:10 - 12
23:17 The two loaves are 'baked with leaven' The two loaves symbolising Jew and gentile. The leaven symbolising that this harvest is made up of those who were once 'in the flesh' tainted with the 'motions of sin'.
23:27 The day of atonement - day of covering Supremely typical of the sacrifice of Christ - the shortcomings of this Levitical feast are explored in Hebrews based on Leviticus 16 Why was it the 10th day of the 7th month? Some of the other feasts are tied to dates for historical reasons is there one for the day of atonement? I have no answer to this one.
23:34 The feast of tabernacles Tabernacles, like the feast of Pentecost, was for Jew and gentile Deuteronomy 16:14. John 7 was at the feast of tabernacles John 7:2 and Jesus spoke on 'the last day, the great day of the feast' John 7:37 about coming unto Jesus and drinking. Notice the last say is called the 'great day' to mark it as the climax of a feast. Symbolising the outpouring of the spirit on all flesh at the time of the end of the millennium when there will be no more death.
Peter Forbes
:11 The 'morrow after the sabbath' as the day of the offering of the sheaf of the firstfruits beautifully prefigures the resurrection of Jesus. He rose 'very early in the morning on the first day of the week' [Luke 24:21] - that is the morning after the sabbath.
Peter Forbes
Against the background of the comments on :11 :10 'firstfruits' answers to the resurrection of Jesus - 1Corinthians 15:23. So will we be among the harvest? Or will we be told 'depart from me …' (Matthew 25:41)
Peter Forbes

Reading 2 - Psalms 128, 129 & 130

To Listen
128 v.3 - We are reminded here of what a blessing family is - as we must be careful not to forget. This, v.4 tells us, is the way that a God-fearing man should expect to be blessed. Think of Gen.49:22, Prov.5:18, Eze.19:10, Ps.52:8, 144:12, 127:5.
Peter Cresswell

130:3 - the picture of the grace and mercy of God as the only path to salvation was understood by people long before the coming of Jesus. Although the perfection required for our salvation was not brough about until the death and resurrection of Jesus, the psalmist here is quite clear that salvation is only available to us by that route. We cannot save ourselves. If God were to mark iniquity, none of us could be saved. We should thank God constantly for his unspeakable gift.
Peter Cresswell

Psalm 128 For the faithful Jew living a faithful life provided that assurance that Jerusalem would remain inhabited. (5). However they were taken into captivity because of their rebelliousness and as a consequence were not able to see the good of Jerusalem which was overthrown.

Psalm 129 v3 the plowers did plough Jerusalem. Micah 3:12 prophesied this in the days of Hezekiah (Jeremiah 26:18) and it was fulfilled by the Romans in about 132 AD. The judgement was postponed in Hezekiah's day because he repented at the word of the prophet.

Psalm 130 vs 3-4 show us the way that the atonement works. God does not hold our repented sins against us. We must believe that He has forgiven our sins. If we doubt then we do not accept the implications of the sacrifice of Christ.
Peter Forbes

Psalm 128 - In speaking of 'thy wife' as a 'fruitful vine' :3 the Psalmist sees the faithful wife as a cameo of how the nation should be. Israel had been, at one time, a fruitful vine [Ezekiel 19:10]. The pattern today is clear. The ecclesia will only be strong if each individual brother and sister is strong. We cannot rely on the strength of others. We must strive ourselves to be Christlike.

Psalm 129 - Jerusalem was repeatedly overthrown because of the faithlessness of Israel. However the true servant of God will continue to pray :5 that Jerusalem's enemies will be confounded because Jerusalem's enemies are God's enemies. This is what it is to 'pray for the peace of Jerusalem' Psalm 122:6 and 'mourn' Matthew 5:4

130:6 the way that David speaks about waiting for God should be how we are in our expectation of the return of Jesus. We should be like the bride looking for the coming of the bridegroom.
Peter Forbes

128:5-6 The blessing out of Zion and peace upon Israel will be seen in the kingdom, when Christ returns to sit on the throne of David.

129:3 'the plowers plowed upon my back' is taken up (Micah 3:12) to speak of Judgement that was to come. This was spoken to Hezekiah (Jeremiah 26:18). Whilst he hearkened to the prophet Israel generally did not - hence the comment by the Psalmist.

130:3 This is a very sobering thought. We should truly appreciate that we are 'justified' by God's grace - if we are willing to believe what he has done for us in Christ.
Peter Forbes

Psalm 127, 128 - CHILDREN ARE A BLESSING FROM THE LORD
Children are not accidents - they are a blessing from the LORD, a reward from him. Children keep us young and as we age they become our strength. Psalm 127 says, "Blessed is the man that has his quiver full of them (children)". Blessed is also translated in other places as Happy. So the man who has lots of children is a happy man. Psalm 128 echoes that comment when it speaks of the blessings of the man who fears the Lord. Two of the blessings concern his wife and his children. "Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD."
It is a sad fact that society had revoked this blessing from the LORD with the advent of working mothers, contraception, abortions and the social trend of having only one or two children. The age of childbearing has also raised significantly taking away from us the blessings of sons born in one's youth.
Let us rejoice in the blessings that God has given us and bring them up to give back to God.
Robert Prins

Reading 3 - Luke 6

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v.12 - Here is something to try to live up to in our lives of following in our master's footsteps. Are there any of us anywhere that could sustain this sort of communion with the Lord? I know I couldn't. The disciples couldn't either, could they, at the other end of Christ's ministry [Matt.26:40]. Let us learn from this - Ps.55:15-17, 109:3,4, Dan.6:10, Matt.6:6, Col.4:2
Peter Cresswell

v.1 'second Sabbath after the first'.  This way of numbering Sabbaths is the only time this happens in the gospel records.  Luke is drawing our attention to the time of the year. There is one, and only one, occasion when  Israel were  commanded to count Sabbaths. [Leviticus 23:15] "And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day  that ye  brought the  sheaf  of  the  wave  offering;  seven  Sabbaths shall   be complete:" The Passover was kept  and then  on the  [Leviticus 23:10] "morrow after the Sabbath" at the end of the Passover they were to [Leviticus 23:10] "bring a  sheaf of  the firstfruits  of your harvest unto the priest:"  From  that Sabbath  they were  to [Leviticus  23:15]  "count  unto you  from the  morrow after  the Sabbath,  from the  day that  ye brought  the sheaf  of the  wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete:"  Thus it can be seen that the event referred to in Luke 6  occurred two weeks after the offering of the wave  sheaf. That is  three weeks after the beginning of the feast of Passover. This detail enables us to precisely locate in time this event  in the ministry of Jesus.

v. 3 Details concerning the shewbread tell us that it was changed on the Sabbath [Leviticus 24:8] Notice that Jesus and his disciples were walking through the corn on the Sabbath. The appeal to the events of [1 Samuel 21:3] must have taken place on the Sabbath day or the shewbread would not have been available for David and his men. The issue in Jesus case is that he is 'lord of the Sabbath' marking that a man's need comes before the letter of the Sabbath law. This is a point which occurs a number of times in the gospels. This event is recorded in three of the gospel records highlighting its importance in laying down a principle. Here, Matthew 12:3, Mark 2:25
Peter Forbes

6:11 Being filled with madness was one of the curses that would follow from faithlessness - Deuteronomy 28:28. So this mention of madness shows how the curse was fulfilled on those religious leaders who refused the grace of God manifest in Jesus.
Peter Forbes
:7 We noticed (Chapter 5) we saw that the people waited until the end of the Sabbath to be healed we know also that Jesus confronted the Scribes and Pharisees by healing on the Sabbath - so now they are ready, watching to find fault.
Peter Forbes

KINDNESS

Kindness is one of those attributes that everyone likes in a person. Kindness is also a quality that God wants to see in us. If we are kind we become like God, because God is kind. And if we show kindness toward each other, God will reward us. "Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6 v 35 - 36)

So to help us with our kindness, Jesus gave us 15 simple little rules to teach us how to be kind.

  • Love your enemies
  • Do good to those who hate you
  • Bless those who curse you
  • Pray for those who ill treat you
  • If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also
  • If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic
  • Give to everyone who asks you
  • If anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back
  • Do to others as you would have them do to you
  • Do good to your enemies
  • Lend to your enemies without expecting to get anything back
  • Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful
  • Do not judge
  • Do not condemn
  • Give a good measure when you give

Let's follow these rules and show ourselves kind

Robert Prins